A thousand miles
by Titanic-fanatic
Summary: A spur of the moment songfic/oneshot about Troy and Gabriella to Vanessa Carlton's A thousand miles. Troy returns back home. But why is he returning in the first place?


**Making my way downtown, walking fast, Faces passed and I'm home bound…**

He left the train cabin as the loudspeaker hummed overhead. He took in the scent of home, smiling despite having a 15 hour journey. Troy felt a cold Albuquerque breeze welcome him back after so long.

**…****Staring blankly ahead. Just making my way, making my way through the crowd…**

He gave his ticket in and began carting his luggage through the swarm of people. They were embracing and smiling at each other causing his mind to drift onto one thought.

**…****And I need you, and I miss you, and now I wonder...**

Gabriella. Troy smiled at her name as it circulated his clouded mind. She was all he thought about on the train. Being able to hold her in his arms again. He had missed her with a burning passion. For so many nights had he dreamt about her lying next to him and then found, when waking up, the cold and empty sheet there. 

**…****If I could fall into the sky. Do you think time would pass me by? 'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you tonight...**

He had hated himself for not returning sooner. He despised the fact that he had left. He wasn't even sure why he had anymore. All Troy knew that even though time had ticked by so slowly that he still loved her, with all his heart. She was his. His Gabriella._  
_**  
…****It's always times like these when I think of you, and I wonder if you ever think of me…**

Gabriella was sitting on her bed with a photo album. She had a box of tissues as she poured over the photos. She traced over his face that beamed up, seeing a teardrop fall onto it.

"Oh Troy" she whispered "Why did you go, why did you leave and never say goodbye?"

It had been a year since he had disappeared. Gabriella didn't know why he had gone and that was what hurt the most.

"_I love you Troy" an eighteen year old Gabriella smiled, holding her T charm necklace between her fingers as it hung loosely around her neck. Troy, also eighteen, wrapped an arm around her, holding her close._

"_I love you too Gab" he whispered into her ear. His lips pressed against her ear and moved down her cheek, finally reaching her mouth. She kissed him passionately, clutching her arm onto his neck, he fell against her, his hands smoothing her softly._

_Suddenly Troy's phone rang. He broke away from Gabriella giving her a long and loving gaze with his brilliant blue eyes. She grinned back with her chocolate pools. He let out a sigh, rising up on the sofa and picking up his phone from a nearby coffee table, reading the text message carefully._

"_What's up baby?" Gabriella asked, her arms squeezing his chest as she rested her head on his shoulder._

"_Nothing" Troy said sternly, flicking the phone closed._

"_You've gone all tense" she commented, massaging his shoulders._

"_I'm fine" he protested, his eyes distracted._

"_Sure. Just don't you leave me here without you okay?" she sighed, planting a tender kiss on his neck. Troy turned and lowered her on top of him as she continued to kiss him._

"_I won't do that to you Gabriella" he reassured between their lips touching. He felt her hand rushing through his hair as they lay on the sofa, legs intertwining._

"_You know my folks are snowed in at the lodge with yours" Gabriella mentioned, fiddling with the hem of his shirt._

"_Yeah" Troy replied, his eyes darting from her hands to her eyes. They weren't looking at him._

"_So we should take advantage of it" she said quietly, her gaze remaining on the cotton of his shirt._

"_What are you saying Gab?" Troy asked putting the palm of his hand to her cheek. Her eyes drifted upwards to meet his._

"_I want you Troy" Troy looked into her eyes intently "I want to make…make love to you" she continued shakily. Troy didn't say anything, he just continued to look into her eyes, his hand softly rubbed her cheek._

"_Alright then" he said. Her eyes widened._

"_Really?" she asked._

"_I want you Gabriella" he replied, pulling her in to a strong and smoldering kiss. Troy stood up and carried her in his arms upstairs. She giggled as he hadn't removed his lips from hers until they fell onto the bed. Troy came on top of her_

"_You are beautiful" he whispered, undoing her cardigan "you are so wonderful" he continued, between kisses, pulling it off along with her tank top._

"_You are so…" Gabriella began but she couldn't finish the sentence, she was pulling Troy's jersey off at this point and lost her all use of her lips to kissing his. Smiling as their lips parted, they stared at each other, a little short of breath._

"_Are you sure this is what you want?" Troy asked, running a hand through her ebony curls._

"_More than anything" she answered, unbuckling his jeans and joining their lips once more. He chuckled slightly and began tugging at her shorts soon discarding them to the ground. After a few moments they lay, Troy on top of Gabriella, both concealed in a white sheet. Her breath suddenly became short, becoming fully aware of feeling his skin against hers._

"_You alright?" he asked._

"_It's just…I've never done this before…I'm a, a virgin" she said._

"_I am too and if you aren't ready I can wait, I'd wait forever for you" Troy explained, making sure she didn't feel pressured._

"_I want to Troy I...do you have a…" Gabriella said, her voice disjointed._

"_Don't worry Gab, I've got it covered. Just relax. I'll look after you" he reassured his hands smoothing over her shoulders "I love you" he smiled._

"_I love you more" she replied, feeling a bit more secure in the precious gaze of his blue eyes. With that their lips joined, giving long and desire filled kisses. Gabriella clenched onto the sheets beneath her, feeling him enter her._

…**'Cause everything's so wrong and I don't belong, living in your precious memories… **

Gabriella ran her hand across the embroidered sheets that she now lay on. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened to make him leave? And if she had done something to upset him. 

...**'Cause I need you, and I miss you, and now I wonder...**

_Gabriella awoke with a smile. She stretched her arm out for Troy but it was met by an empty and cold bedsheet. Gabriella flickered her eyes open, not believing he wasn't there. Maybe he had gone to the bathroom? She bolted up and found a silken nightie. She slid it on feeling slightly sore as she went to the bathroom. Gabriella flung the door open expecting him to be standing there but all she saw was her reflection staring back. She brought her hand to her neck seeing a red mark left by Troy last night, she ran a finger over it as her mind began to work._

_Maybe he is downstairs? She ran out of her room and descended the stairs._

"_Troy?" she called happily, anticipating a response but there was nothing. Her eyes darted to the sofa where they had been last night and then to the kitchen._

"_Troy?!" she called desperation lingering in her voice. Once again there was no reply. She searched the house, panic taking over her mind. Where was he? She returned to her room, tears staining her cheeks._

"_Troy?!" she cried, clutching onto her necklace as if it was a beckoning device for her Troy. Gabriella fell onto her bed, holding her body protectively. As she wiped away a tear Gabriella spied a letter on her bedside table with his ring. She picked up the golden jewellery with its ruby red stone and turned it over in her fingers. Gabriella went for the letter and ran her fingertip over Troy's slender handwriting._

_Gabriella x_

_She shakily opened it to see a short letter emerge. Gabriella pulled it out and opened it._

_I'm sorry_

_Troy xxx_

_Gabriella felt her eyes search for more but that was it. Her tears stained the blue ink causing it to run slightly. She felt lost, vulnerable, alone. There was no explanation, no reason she could see for him to leave. How could he do this to her, after everything they had been through. After everything he had said – "Sure. Just don't you leave me here without you okay?" _

"_**I won't do that to you Gabriella"**_

_She could hear his words echo in her mind. They were painful. If he didn't mean that then did he mean it when he said __**"I love you"**__? Gabriella felt used, she felt as though she wanted time to rush ahead and leave her behind. She took his ring in her hand and held it to her chest as tears began to cascade once more._**  
**

…**If I could fall into the sky. Do you think time would pass me by? 'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you tonight…****  
**

Gabriella felt those tears return. She hadn't moved on since it happened. She hadn't been with anybody else despite what everyone said. Gabriella couldn't explain it but she felt as though he would come back some day. She knew she would. Even though his own parents hadn't heard from him. Gabriella placed her old necklace around her neck and took his ring from a small box and ran it onto her finger. Gabriella sometimes found herself engrossed in his memory, in her dreams she would return and hold her close.

…**And I, I don't want to let you know. I, I drown in your memory. I, I don't want to let this go I, I don't... ****  
****Making my way downtown, walking fast, Faces passed and I'm home bound…**

Troy had now reached a familiar street he saw his own house but ignored it. His parents could wait, Gabriella couldn't. Not anymore. Not for a moment longer.

…**Staring blankly ahead. Just making my way, making my way through the crowd… ****  
**

Troy suddenly felt his feet running beneath him. He couldn't control them.

…**And I still need you, and I still miss you, and now I wonder... ****  
**

Suddenly he was there. His breathing was staggered as he approached the front door. He knocked the familiar black door and took a deep breath. Troy had spent so long thinking about returning he hadn't actually thought about what he'd say to her. What if she was with somebody else?

Gabriella heard a knocking on the front door. She quickly wiped away her tears, dabbing furiously with her tissues and then walked quietly downstairs. "Who was calling at this hour?" she pondered. Her mother wasn't due back for a week. Gabriella unlatched the door, running a hand through her messy locks as she did so, trying to compose herself.

Troy heard somebody approach the door. He looked desperately through the window but it was too distorted to tell who it was. Maybe she had moved away? Then it opened.

…**If I could fall into the sky. Do you think time would pass me by? 'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you... ****  
**

They froze. Looking straight into the other's eyes.

"It can't be?" she thought.

"She looks just the same" he smiled to himself.

…**If I could fall into the sky…**

"Troy is that you?" she asked. It was like one of her dreams interrupting her reality, she felt dizzy. Troy's crystal eyes washed over her. She was wearing her necklace and his ring.

"It's me Gab. I'm back" he began, feeling tears prickle his eyes as she looked to him.

"Is it really you?' she replied. Tears trickling down her cheeks.

**…Do you think time would pass me by?...**

"Yes and I'm sorry I left and I am sorry I hadn't come back sooner" he answered, tears now falling from his own eyes.

…**'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you…**

"Oh Troy" she cried launching herself onto him. He caught her in that familiar embrace and kissed her head frantically.

"I'm so sorry for all the pain and upset" he said between the tears "I never wanted to hurt you" his hands were smoothing over her, pulling her into him.

"I know. I know" she replied, squeezing him tighter, making sure he was still there.

"I love you Gabriella and I'm never going to leave you again" he cried, lifting her head from his chest.

…**If I could just hold you…**

"I'm never going to let you" she said, bringing her hands over his face. With that they kissed passionately, intertwining themselves together "Oh god, I love you so much" she whispered breaking away "I've missed you for so long" she continued kissing him again "I've wanted to hold you since you went…just wanted to hold you" she repeated, nuzzling deeper into his embrace. Troy's eyes flashed over her once more, glossy with tears.

"Me too" he whispered back, kissing her forehead tenderly.

…**Tonight…**


End file.
